


Read Between the Lines

by cavlarycaptain



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-24 08:09:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19719658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cavlarycaptain/pseuds/cavlarycaptain
Summary: “That book you’re about to pick up, it’s mine.” Billy says, pointing at the book that’s sitting on the bookshelf, just centimeters away from Steve’s fingers.“Well seeing that it’s about to be in my hands, I would say that it’s mine.” Steve says in response.“Well I called dibs so sucks to be you pompadour.” Billy says.“Sorry that not all of us think mullets count as a personality trait.” Steve taunt backs.





	Read Between the Lines

**Author's Note:**

> One of these days, these one shots won't be over 1,000 words. ONE of these days.  
> Quick disclaimer : It's not lost on me that Billy Hargrove is a racist bully, but in this, like most of my stories, Billy is non-canonical in the sense that he got the help he needed and worked towards becoming a better person. In no way am I writing off how he actually was in season 2, because let's face it, he was horrible.

“That’s mine.” Steve hears a voice coming from behind him say. He turns around and sees a blond haired boy, no, young man staring at him.

“I’m sorry?” Steve asks, thrown by the abrupt nature of the man’s phrase.

Mullet’s about to respond when he’s cut off.

“That book you’re about to pick up, it’s mine.” He says, pointing at the copy of _The Norton Anthology of English Literature_ that’s sitting on the bookshelf, just centimeters away from Steve’s fingers.

“Well seeing that it’s about to be in my hands, I would say that it’s mine.” Steve says in response. Blond hair rolls his eyes and pushes his hair out of his face.

“Well I called dibs so sucks to be you pompadour.”

“Sorry that not all of us think mullets count as a personality trait.” Steve taunts back.

“Holy shit, do you guys mind?” Robin, Steve’s friend and library assistant comes from behind the bookcase, annoyed written all over her face. “We’re in a library. Please keep your voices down.”

“Robin he’s saying he called dibs on this book.” Steve not so much says, but whines. Robin stares at the book in Steve’s hands and then at the boy next to her. 

“Of course it’s you.” She says, rolling her eyes. “Billy, you know you can’t call “dibs” on a library book.”

“Well that seems like something you guys should work on.” Billy says, leaning against the table behind him. He abruptly stands up when Robin glares at him.

“You can’t check that book out anyways. It has to stay in the library since it’s the only copy.” Robin says, shrugging at their dumbfounded reactions. “Sorry, those are the rules.” She says as she starts to walk away,

“But wait,”

“Robin, I,”

Steve and Billy both start, looking at each other, waiting for the other to start speaking.

“Look, I don’t know what to tell you two. We have one copy and we close in an hour, so figure it out. Maybe you could try sharing it like the fourth graders you’re both acting like.” Robin walks away with finality in her stride and Steve and Billy are left looking at each other again.

“I mean, I guess I wouldn’t mind if you don’t,”Steve begins with slight trepidation. “This assignment is due tomorrow and I can’t afford to waste anymore time.”

Billy stares at Steve and then the book, deep in contemplation. He finally lets out a sigh and says, “Yeah, fine okay, I’m in the same boat so we might as well make the best of what we’ve got.”

They both sit down at the table in front of them, and Steve opens the book, pushing it in between them. Steve reaches for his backpack to pull out his worksheet that his professor gave him, and while Steve think it’s mainly busy work, he figures he should do it nonetheless. 

He looks over and sees that Billy’s pulling out a folded up piece of paper from his inner coat pocket and unfolds it; he realizes that it’s the same worksheet, though Billy’s is partially filled out.

“You’ve got Mitchell too huh?” Steve asks, trying to awkwardly make conversation as he starts shuffling through the pages. Billy shuffles through more pages, even though Steve was nowhere near done reading over the previous ones.

“You mean Bitchell, yeah, I do.” Billy says as he aggressively writes down the information on his crumpled page. Steve takes this opportunity to shuffle back to the previous pages and write down his answer. “She hates me.”

“I have no idea why.” Steve says under his breath; if Billy’s heard him, he’s chosen to ignore it. Steve reaches to turn the pages again when his hand lands on Billy’s. They both pause, neither knowing what to do when Billy eventually clears his throat and proceeds with what he was doing, pushing off Steve’s hand like it never happened.

“She holds this vendetta against me because I never show up to class but I always ace the quizzes and exams.” Billy begins to explain. “It’s not my fault that reading is a remote hobby.” Steve guesses he can’t fault Billy there.

“She always makes sure to call me out when I _do_ show up to class and she gets all flustered when I answer the question right.” Billy laughs to himself and Steve can’t help but laugh along. “Then she normally says something along the lines of, “You can guess now Hargrove, but good luck guessing your way through life.”

“It probably sounds more like this.” Steve says before pinching his nose and repeating the phrase. Billy lets out a boisterous laugh.

“Yes, that is exactly what she sounds like.” Billy says, still slightly laughing. Steve laughs with him and the laughter between them dies down as they continue to stare at each other. He hasn’t really had the chance to get a good luck at Billy, but now he has and he’s not afraid to admit that Billy’s, well, he’s handsome. 

He’s got dazzling blue eyes that are surrounded by elongated lashes underneath well manicured eyebrows; and even though he joked about it earlier, he can’t help but notice how well Billy’s hair frames his face.

“So,” Steve says, getting back on track and shuffling through the pages, “What time do you have Mitchell, I’m sure she can’t be easy to deal in the morning.” Steve asks Billy, writing his answers down. 

“You can say that again,” Billy says, shuffling the pages again. “Fortunately I don’t have her until 3:15.”

“I have her at 2:00.” Steve says, trying to continue the conversation.

“Yeah, I know.” Billy says and Steve stares at him. Billy glances up at him before shuffling through the pages one last time. “I’ve seen you before, leaving her class. It’s hard to miss a head of hair like that.” Billy says and Steve doesn’t know how to read the statement until he sees Billy smile.

“Well, they didn’t call me Steve “The Hair” Harrington in high school for nothing and I really can’t believe I just bragged about that.” Steve says, putting his face in his palm.

“No, no that’s a fair nickname. It _is_ a nice feature about you.” Billy says, looking up at it. “I wouldn’t say it’s the only one either.” Billy says, winking at Steve. Steve looks away, refusing to let Billy know how much that made him smile. He looks over at Billy’s worksheet and sees that Billy’s already done. Steve can’t help but feel a bit somber, he was starting to enjoy his time with Billy.

“Sorry that I called you pompadour.” Billy says as he begins to fold up his paper and put it back into his pocket.

“Sorry that I implied your personality is based entirely on your hair.” Steve responds with a smile. 

“You know, I’ve got a Biology 1102 exam next week,” Billy starts and Steve sends him a small smile.

“Is that so? Funnily enough, I do too.” Steve says and Billy smiles.

“From what I remember, there’s only one copy of that text book so it’ll have to stay in the library.” Billy says, “I don’t know, same place, same time, next week?” Billy says. Steve nods his head and Billy’s starts to head on his way out.Robin comes up to where Steve is sitting once she knows that Billy’s out of earshot.

“I thought you took Biology 1102 last semester.” Robin says as she pushes in Billy’s chair.

“Yeah,” Steve smiles. “I did.”

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm still a little broken up about Cameron Boyce so I wanted to write something light to lift my spirits.  
> Hope you enjoyed. :)
> 
> If you haven't yet, feel free to check out my chapter fic [Where Angels Fear to Tread](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19081780). It's a 1960s au and I'm having so much fun writing it. It'll probably be the only writing I'll focus on for a little while because it's kind of a slow burn.
> 
> Feel free to send prompts or one shot ideas to my [Tumblr](https://cavlarycvptain.tumblr.com)


End file.
